Pubdate: 1874
Source: Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the year
1873
Author: Hon. Horace Capron, Formerly U.S. Commissioner of Agriculture
Pages: 372-373

AGRICULTURE IN JAPAN - HEMP & FLAX

Hemp is raised on valley-lands, which are dug up and flooded
the same as for rice, and the same kind of fertilizers are used,
that is, rape-seed or fish oil-cake, straw-manure, sea-weed, or
liquid manure from closets. The hemp is not sown broadcast as
with us, but is planted in March in drills 16 inches apart. As
soon as the plants are well up they are hoed, and in addition
to the manure worked into the soil previous to the planting, two
or three times each month liquid manure is applied to the roots
of each plant. Between these drills some kind of vegetable is
grown and thoroughly fertilized. The ground is completely flooded
several times by means of the ubiquitous irrigating ditches. In
August the hemp is pulled, not cut, and is placed in the water-ditches
and alternately soaked a few days and then dried for a time, till
the external coating is thoroughly rotted; it is then beaten on
a board or plank platform with a bamboo stick till the fiber is
entirely cleaned. Another method for separating the fiber is by
holding a number of the stems near their tops with the left hand,
(an equal number at each time,) and with the right hand breaking
them short off and stripping the fiber from the stems. This leaves
it in hanks of uniform size, which is retained through the whole
process until baled for market. To relieve the fiber of its glutinous
coating is a very simple process. A thin piece of bamboo, about
3 inches wide and 2 or 3 feet long, is stretched over two bridges
in a manner similar to the hairs on a fiddle-bow, so as to render
it elastic; this is fastened in a convenient manner a little inclined.
The hanks of hemp in the damp state are laid upon this as they
are stripped, then another piece of bamboo, curved like a currier's
scraper, is run down over this several times till the fiber is
entirely clean. These hanks are then hung over bamboo rods to
dry. It is then pressed into bales of 100 pounds each, and sent
on pack-horses to market. It is probably the finest hemp grown
in the world. The great length, fineness, glossiness, and strength
of the staple are unequaled.

I have been unable to ascertain the average yield of hemp per
acre. It is sold very low in the market at present, but when the
proper machinery is invented for working this fiber it will prove
a mine of wealth to Japan.

Flax is grown on the same soil as hemp, and manured the same,
and prepared in like manner for market. It is also noted for its
excellence. These two crops are raised by rotation, that is, are
never grown two seasons in succession on the same ground.